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Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik
Module 12: Remembering & Forgetting
Module 12
Remembering & Forgetting
Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik
Module 12: Remembering & Forgetting
ORGNIZATION OF MEMORIES
• Network theory of memory organization
– theory says that we store related ideas in
separate categories, or files, called nodes
• Associations
– linking of nodes or categories of ideas together by
making associations or mental roads between
new information and old information that was
previously stored
• Network
– thousands of interconnected nodes, which form
an enormous cognitive network for arranging and
storing files
Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik
Module 12: Remembering & Forgetting
p262 NORMAN TRAIN OF THOUGHT
Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik
Module 12: Remembering & Forgetting
ORGNIZATION OF MEMORIES (CONT.)
• Organization of network hierarchy
– refers to the arrangement of nodes or memory
files in a certain order or hierarchy
– bottom of the hierarchy are nodes with very
concrete information, which are connected to
nodes with somewhat more specific information,
which in turn are connected to nodes with general
or abstract information
Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik
Module 12: Remembering & Forgetting
FORGETTING CURVES
• Unfamiliar and uninteresting
– forgetting curve measures the amount of
previously learned information that subjects can
recall or recognize
• Familiar and interesting
– remembering is partly related to how familiar or
interesting the information is
Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik
Module 12: Remembering & Forgetting
REASONS FOR FORGETTING
• Overview: forgetting
– refers to the inability to retrieve, recall, or
recognize information that was stored or is still
stored in long-term memory
• Repression
– according to Freud, repression is a mental
process that automatically hides emotionally
threatening or anxiety-producing information in
the unconscious, from which repressed memories
cannot be recalled voluntarily, but something may
cause them to enter consciousness at a later time
Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik
Module 12: Remembering & Forgetting
REASONS FOR FORGETTING (CONT.)
• Overview: forgetting
– poor retrieval cues/poor encoding
– retrieval cues are mental reminders that we
create by forming vivid mental images or creating
associations between new information and
information we already know
• Interference
– common reason for forgetting
– recall of some particular memory is blocked or
prevented by other related memories
Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik
Module 12: Remembering & Forgetting
REASONS FOR FORGETTING (CONT.)
• Overview: forgetting
– Amnesia
• may be temporary or permanent, is loss of
memory that may occur after a blow or
damage to the brain or after disease
– Distortion
• we misremember something due to memory
distortions caused by bias or suggestibility
Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik
Module 12: Remembering & Forgetting
REASONS FOR FORGETTING (CONT.)
• Interference
– Proactive interference
• occurs when old information (learned earlier)
blocks or disrupts the remembering of related
new information (learned later)
– Retroactive interference
• occurs when new information (learned later)
blocks or disrupts the retrieval of related old
information (learned earlier)
Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik
Module 12: Remembering & Forgetting
REASONS FOR FORGETTING (CONT.)
• Retrieval cues
– mental reminders that you create by forming vivid
mental images of information, or associating new
information with information that you already
know
• Tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon
– refers to having a strong feeling that a particular
word can be recalled, but despite making a great
effort, we are temporarily unable to recall this
particular information
Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik
Module 12: Remembering & Forgetting
BIOLOGICAL BASES OF MEMORY
• Location of memories in the brain
– cortex
• Short term memories
– ability to hold words, facts, and events in shortterm memory depends on activity in the cortex
• Long term memory
– ability to remember or recall songs, words, facts,
and events for days, months, or years depends
on areas widely spread throughout the cortex
Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik
Module 12: Remembering & Forgetting
p268 AREAS BRAIN INVOLVED MEMORY
Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik
Module 12: Remembering & Forgetting
BIOLOGICAL BASES OF MEMORY (CONT.)
• Location of memories in the brain
– Amygdala: emotional memories
• the amygdala, located in the tip of the temporal
lobe receives input from all the senses and is
associated with emotional memory
– Hippocampus: transferring memories
• transfers words, facts, and personal events
from short-term memory into permanent longterm memory
Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik
Module 12: Remembering & Forgetting
BIOLOGICAL BASES OF MEMORY (CONT.)
• Making a short-term memory
– Neural assemblies
• groups of interconnected neurons whose
activation allows information or stimuli to be
recognized and held briefly and temporarily in
short-term memory
Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik
Module 12: Remembering & Forgetting
p269 NEURAL ASSEMBLY MEMORY
Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik
Module 12: Remembering & Forgetting
BIOLOGICAL BASES OF MEMORY (CONT.)
• Making a long-term memory
– Long-term potentiation (LTP)
• refers to change in the structure and function
of neurons after they have been repeatedly
stimulated
• neuroscientists believe that the LTP process,
which changes the structure and function of
neurons, is the most likely basis for learning
and memory in animals and humans
Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik
Module 12: Remembering & Forgetting
MNEMONICS: MEMORIZATION METHODS
• Improving your memory
– Mnemonic methods
• ways to improve encoding and create better
retrieval cues by forming vivid associations or
images, which improve recall.
– Method of loci
• encoding technique that creates visual
associations between already memorized
places and new items to be memorized
– Peg method
• encoding technique that creates associations
between number-word rhymes and items to be
memorized